page_title: Llanidloes and Newtown Railway
section_title: Before the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway
hierarchical_section_title: Llanidloes and Newtown Railway / Before the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway
caption_attribution_description: English: System map of the Llanidloes and Newtown Railway, Wales, in 1859
context_page_description: The Llanidloes and Newtown Railway was a railway company in Montgomeryshire, Wales. It was promoted locally when plans for trunk railways passing through the locality were cancelled; local people saw that a railway connection was essential to the flannel industry in the district. The seventeen-mile line opened in 1859, and at first was isolated from any other railway, but from 1861 it became connected to Oswestry by an allied railway company, and other companies also connected to it. From 1864 the company was incorporated into the new Cambrian Railways company.
  Serving a thinly populated and remote area, the line was never commercially successful, and the long-distance through routes passing through did not succeed in bringing great traffic volumes to the line. When Llanidloes station was to be extended and improved, the Manchester and Milford Railway, then under construction, undertook to pay a one-third share of the cost of the works, and of future maintenance and operation of the station. The M&MR later decided to alter the course of its line and never reached Llanidloes, but continued to be liable for heavy charges for a station it did not connect with.
context_section_description: At the end of the eighteenth century, the local industry of Mid Wales was already fairly well provided with canals, although the mountainous terrain made their engineering difficult. After 1830 attention was being given to railway communication with Ireland and a Royal Commission was established in 1836 to enquire into the matter. Charles Blacker Vignoles reported in 1837 on his recommended route to reach Dublin, which was to use a natural harbour at Porth Dinllaen (often spelt Porth Dinlleyn), on the north coast of the Lleyn Peninsula. Vignoles proposed a railway route to Porth Dinllaen from Shrewsbury via Oswestry, Chirk, Bala, Barmouth, Harlech, and Pwllheli, although a route similar to the present Chester – Holyhead route was considered, and rejected.
  Isambard Kingdom Brunel was considering a London to Dublin route at the same time, and he too favoured Porth Dinlleyn as a ferry port. His line would have been broad gauge and run from Ludlow through Craven Arms, Montgomery and Newtown. However at this stage these schemes were merely proposals and had not achieved traction in gaining financial commitment. In fact George Stephenson, favouring the easier gradients of the Chester to Holyhead line, was persuasive, and when the Chester and Holyhead Railway was authorised on 4 July 1844, any scheme for Porth Dinllaen was futile.
  In 1852 a further proposal was published, for a Montgomeryshire Railways Company; it would run from Shrewsbury through Minsterley (rather than Welshpool), Newtown, Llanidloes and Llangurig to Aberystwyth. The London and North Western Railway, by now dominant in North Wales, took over the scheme but altered the route avoiding Llanidloes, and in fact the western part of this scheme was dropped before it went before Parliament.
caption: The Llanidloes and Newtown Railway in 1859
exif: {}